Gary Oldman to Play Villain in Albert Hughes’ ‘Motor City’

Albert Hughes, who last co-helmed The Book of Eli with his brother Allen, was first confirmed as the director of Motor City back in August of last year, when an extremely intriguing piece of information about the film’s screenplay was dropped: it “contains [only] one line of dialogue.”

Initial rumors pegged Chris Evans — riveting in 2011’s Puncture, which most people didn’t see — as the project’s headliner, but that role has since changed hands to Dominic Cooper, whose electrifying dual-character turn in The Devil’s Double will hopefully come to be seen as a launching-off pad for the gifted English actor.

The aforementioned Chad St. John script, which reached the 2009 Black List, follows “a small time hood who is framed and sent to prison, only to exact revenge years later to get back the woman he loves.” The woman will be played by Amber Heard, who last appeared alongside Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary.

The story also involves “a kingpin-type…who has his hooks into the woman,” and we now know who’ll embody this villainous character: none other than Gary Oldman, fresh off the excitement of his first-ever Oscar nomination for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. [THR]

At this point, Motor City is looking at an April kick-off in Berlin, and each new piece of news regarding the film has me more and more stoked to see the final product. That I was a huge fan of The Book of Eli, especially because of the uniquely atmospheric action flourishes brought to the plate by the Hughes brothers, essentially feels like an afterthought now — there’s just so much to get jazzed about here.